A well-written leadership bio is a career essential. They are a much more effective approach when trying to initiate an exploratory conversation than a resume. That might be for a C-level role or even a business partnership. But, often when you’ve got such an opportunity, one of three things usually happens:
Unfortunately, these attempts rarely pass go.
Whether you’re writing your professional bio for the first time, or even refreshing one that has been collecting digital dust, it’s not as easy as it seems. There are so many professional bios out there that are soul-crushingly boring. The last thing we want you to do is to become one of them.
People connect with people. That’s why it’s important to leave your audience with something that’s uniquely you. Your passion, philosophy, and style needs to come through to your reader. If your bio is written in a generic way that the name can be easily replaced with somebody else’s then it’s not going to be believable, likeable, or memorable. If you read the bio out loud, it should also sound like you! We will edit ruthlessly and use language that reflects your personality.
To “hook” your reader, you need to identify your value proposition quickly. This can be done by weaving in your leadership approach, your values, or unique things you’ve done that have led to your success. We’ll ask questions to identify why you do what you do, and what your contribution to your industry is so you can be recognised as a thought leader.
Even though it’s a ~200-word leadership bio that’s the most effective way to keep your readers attention to the end is to tell a story. Whether we start with your current role or your earlier foundations, we’ll take the reader on a short narrative without getting hung up on details from the beginning, middle and end.
Always, always, always looking for ways to align your personal brand in your bio with your company’s brand image. There’s a way you can allude to what makes your organisation so successful and connect that back with your personal attributes.
In the same way that a company touts successes, your professional bio should do the same. You should talk about your achievements, as well as what you’ve done for others. Quantitative metrics such as percentage growth figures are always best, but qualitative social proof such as the repertoire of clients you’ve worked with can be equally effective if written well.
Leadership bios are usually around 200 words which many people can find restrictive. But, in the digital world, it’s possible to send a whole bunch of additional information by embedding links. This might include links to your websites or links to online articles about awards you’ve won or interviews you’ve featured in.
Your professional bio is a succinct, stand-alone version of your professional career, and it complements your formal resume and personal branding on LinkedIn. While each should deliver a consistent message, it still means each should be written differently. Never copy and paste your bio into your LinkedIn profile, and never give your resume when a professional bio is requested.
Leadership bios are usually quite succinct between 150 to 250 words however, longer professional bios may be requested for a specific use. Some of our clients use a succinct version for speaking engagements and publication bylines and like to have a longer version around 350-450 words on standby for their website or business opportunities.
We are usually able to capture your personality when we interview you before writing. We will also review your social media accounts to get a sense of your style, and we’ll ask questions when we interview you to determine your likes and dislikes.
When it comes to writing leadership bios, it is a very personal style of writing. The first draft typically is a bit of a work-in-progress. We rely on you to be ruthless in your feedback to us during the first draft and highlight to us the parts that you think don’t suit your personality then we’ll adjust accordingly.
We usually recommend allowing a two-week time frame for finalising your leadership bio, but sometimes it can be finished quicker.
We will spend a day reviewing your current bio, your social media profile and your existing resume and preparing questions for an interview which we will send you ahead of time.
After interviewing you (usually takes around 45 minutes), we will spend some time researching the company that you’re working for / interested in, and trends in your industry. We then do the writing over two-days, with edits done by a different writer in our team, and then we will go back and forth with you on up to 3 revisions.
Allowing you a couple of days in between receiving each updated version, the revision process alone can take up to 10-days. We allow a 14-day window for the revision work.
We offer leadership bios at $500 SGD, which is inclusive of the time spent reviewing the leader’s current bio, social media profile and resume. This is followed up by an interview with the leader, and then some time spent researching the company they’re working for, and trends in the industry they are in. We will marry the insight we find on the company and industry with the answers to the interview questions to find a unique angle. After writing, and editing by another writer, we will then go back and forth on up to 3 revisions to make sure that the bio is true to your personality and values.
